Before Cataclysm, both the Doomguard and Infernal required a quest chain to learn how to summon and needed [Enslave Demon] to be kept under the Warlock's control for a limited time after their initial summoning. It could be cast repeatedly, but had diminishing returns. Now, they both are guardians, and so they can be used along with another demonic pet, and do not require anything more than just a summoning.

Non-combat

[Eye of Kilrogg]: Obtained at level 22. Can't attack and killed on one hit by nearly anything, but extends the warlock's sight to wherever the eye travels to.

Minion skill sets

The Imp's main role is a support minion, designed to do additional damage alongside the caster via its Firebolt attack. The Imp is very fragile and will die quickly if attacked, but it requires no Soul Shard to summon, and is often used to farm new Soul Shards when you run out and cannot summon a different minion. Other Imp abilities include Phase Shift, allowing the Imp to shift out of phase and become unattackable; Blood Pact a powerful health buff for everyone in your party; and Fire Shield, a Thorns-like damage shield (with FR at higher levels) which he will cast on you and your teammates that enter combat. With the Improved Imp and Improved Firebolt talents, the Imp is a damaging minion in the warlock's arsenal, at least until he runs out of Mana. The Imp is also useful as a mana battery for affliction warlocks using Dark Pact due to his ability to stay out of harm's way and his fast mana regeneration.

This demon deals little damage, but has very good armor and hit points. He is excellent while soloing, because he is an excellent tank, and is able to keep aggro. He is also excellent for farming Soul Shards (provided you have one to summon him with). The Voidwalker's main ability, Torment, is a taunt that causes enemies to attack the Voidwalker. There is also a AoE version of Torment called Suffering. At higher levels, however, it is unable to hold a mob's attention for very long. Additional Voidwalker spells include Sacrifice, which reduces your Voidwalker's health but creates a 30-second damage absorption shield for the warlock, and Consume Shadows, which is an out-of-combat self-heal for the Voidwalker.

The Succubus is replete with spells that deal damage and mesmerize the enemy in different ways. Her first ability, Lash of Pain, is a direct-damage, low-mana cast that deals shadow damage to her target. Other spells include Soothing Kiss, which will reduce threat (the reverse of the Voidwalker's Torment ability), and Seduction, which charms a target for 15 seconds (or until attacked). The Succubus also has a self-only Lesser Invisibility spell. Succubi deals the most damage of all the basic minions, without talent upgrades. At higher levels the succubus is not a good means of using Crowd Control. Her low health and armor makes her easy to kill, thereby eliminating the Crowd Control ability and leaving the warlock without a pet.

The Felhunter is your anti-caster minion. Where the Succubus deals lots of melee damage, the Voidwalker is a great tank and the Imp deals lots of ranged damage, the Felhunter has high magic resist and has abilities to Counterspell (Spell Lock), remove buffs from enemies and remove debuffs from allies (Devour Magic). The Warlock employing a meleeing Felhunter can also use Shadow Bite to give amplified direct damage to enemies. One could also use Fel Intelligence to increase Spirit and Intellect of all party member close to the demon. There are no talents that specifically improve the Felhunter. The Felhunter is not an ideal choice to use when leveling, farming or raiding. However his abilities make him the ideal pet to use for Player vs. Player encounters (Battlegrounds, Arena, etc.)

Infernal deals better melee damage than the Succubus, and has higher HP, fire immunity, and armor than a Voidwalker. Since Patch 3.0.2, the Enslave Demon spell is no longer necessary to control it. The Infernal will fall from the sky and fight for the warlock for 1 minute before despawning. The Infernal deals strictly melee damage, combined with an immolation effect that hurts all enemies nearby. Summoning an Infernal stuns all nearby targets for 2 sec and deals instant damage. It requires an Infernal Stone to summon, which costs 50 (or less with reputation discount) and can be purchased from Reagent Vendor). - With the patch 4.0.1, the Infernal now is a guardian, and it can be summoned without any items or something like that, being trained as a spell.

The Doomguard is the most powerful Warlock minion. It has the highest HP and AC, and possesses the abilites Rain of Fire, Dispel, Cripple, and Warstomp. A properly used Doomguard can take out entire camps of enemies at a time before perishing. Curse of Doom has about a 10% chance of summoning a Doomguard if it deals the killing damage. Ritual of Doom will summon a Doomguard 100% of the time, but requires the assistance of your party (4 people and warlock), and will deal damage to one member of your group. When Ritual of Doom is complete, a Doomguard is summoned under the command of the Warlock for 15 minutes, after which he simply despawns. Ritual of Doom requires a Demonic Figurine, which costs 1 (or less with reputation discount) and can be purchased from Reagent Vendor. - With patch 4.0.1, the Doomguard is now a guardian, and it can be summoned without any items or something like that, being trained as a spell.

Felguard was added in the 2.0.1 patch (Obtained: from 41 point tier of the new demonology talent tree)

The Felguard is the most powerful non-enslaved Warlock minion. Overall effectiveness compared to other warlock minions is in a rapid state of flux. As of patch 2.0.3, it had similar DPS to the succubus, and tanked almost as well as the Voidwalker, having slightly less armor but much better single target aggro generation. This demon has abilities helpful in PvP as well as when soloing: Intercept allows the Felguard to charge and stun whomever the warlock targets for 3 seconds and has a cooldown of 30 seconds. It uses the standard single soul shard to summon. - With patch 4.0.1, it continues being one of the most powerful non-enslaved warlocks's minion, but is given to any level 10 Warlock that chose the arts (and thus the talent tree) of Demonology. His tanking abilities where somewhat nerfed, but it can still serve as a low-level tank to soloing, but not to low-level dungeons groups.

Minion scaling

As a warlock improves their stats, their minion also improves:[citation needed]

The scaling formulas for hit are not yet available, however the patch 3.2.0 notes state that "If a player is at their appropriate spell hit chance or hit chance maximum, their pet will be at the maximum for spell hit chance, hit chance, and expertise. If they are below the maximum, their pet will be proportionately below those maximums.".[1]

Minions gain less health and mana from stamina and intellect than player characters. Minions only gain 1 mana per point of base intellect, and do not gain any health from their base stamina. Different minions gain different amounts of health per point of bonus stamina, and different amounts of mana per point of bonus intellect: